NEW DELHI: Public outrage and demands from political parties for a muscular response to mutilation of bodies of two jawans by the Pakistan army has prompted the government to put its Pakistan policy on pause, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserting that it "cannot be business as usual" with Islamabad.

"After this barbaric attack, there cannot be business as usual with Pakistan. Those who are responsible for this (mutilation of bodies) must be brought to book," Singh told reporters. The prime minister also said that the Pakistani action at the line of control was unacceptable. "Hope Pakistan realises its mistake," he said.

This statement indicated an acknowledgement in the government about the lack of political backing and popular support for Manmohan Singh's Pakistan initiatives. Till now, the government has been maintaining that Singh's Pakistan initiatives will not be put on hold.

The prime ministerial assertions come in the backdrop of BJP's charge that the response from New Delhi to the misdeeds of the Pakistani army was pusillanimous. Even after Army chief General Bikram Singh warned that India's military would retaliate aggressively in case of any further Pakistani provocation, the government leadership had refused to raise the rhetorical bar.

Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari went to the extent of chiding the Opposition for taking a 'jingoistic' position on the latest crisis. "Professional armies respect rules of engagement. Transgressions are surmounted through tactical responses and not driven by jingoism," Tewari had said.

Â Responding to the prime minister's statement, BJP said Singh must now walk the talk. "The whole country was agitated over the gruesome killing of the two soldiers. The fact that the prime minister's statement has comes so late makes one wonder whether it was made out of conviction or compulsion. I hope this marks the burial of the Sharm el Sheikh line," leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, said. Jaitley, who met national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, along with Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday morning, had told him that the government's response must be commensurate with the popular anger over the issue. The two leaders also told Menon that statements from ministers that the issue would be settled at Army protocol level and peace process would stay on course was going against the popular mood.

Former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, too, said the prime minister should explain his next course of action. "Until last evening, the government was speaking in a forked tongue. The Army chief was saying one thing and the external affairs minister something entirely different thing. That confusion is gone. I hope that the prime minister has a Plan-B ready. And he will implement it when Pakistan turns down his demand," said Sinha.

The revised line on Pakistan came barely hours after Northern Army Commander, Lieutenant General KT Parnaik, said there have been three incidents of ceasefire violations since the flag meeting between India and Pakistan on Monday afternoon. "Two of them were reported from the Mendhar region. Firing was reported even at the time of Army Chief's address," agency reports quoting Lt Gen Parnaik said. "We have not responded to these because they were not effective, but we are watching them," he said, adding Pakistan had planted mines in Indian territory.

"During ceasefire violations, they would fire on the pickets and taking advantage of the night, some terrorists have probably come in and they have planted some mines. These were discovered and we have uncovered these mines, they are Pakistani mines. We had shown these to the Pakistani Brigadier who had come (for the flag meeting)," said Lt Gen Parnaik.

"At the end of the (flag) meeting, they remained arrogant and adamant. They were not ready to admit anything. Their body language was that of reluctance," he said.